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Grosse Pointe City

City signs on with GPCRDA for trash disposal

By K. Michelle Moran
C & G Staff Writer

GROSSE POINTE CITY — Yet another of the Pointes has agreed to continue its relationship with the Grosse Pointes-Clinton Refuse Disposal Authority.

During a meeting Jan. 27, the City Council voted unanimously in favor of committing the City’s trash to the GPCRDA for another 10 years, extending the contract from a scheduled sunset date of March 31, 2014, to March 31, 2024. City Manager Pete Dame said “all of the Grosse Pointes” except the City and Grosse Pointe Woods had already voted in favor of the agreement, and the Woods was slated to vote on it during a Feb. 24 council meeting, as well.

The eight member communities — the five Grosse Pointes, Harper Woods, Mount Clemens and Clinton Township — have traditionally enjoyed lower trash disposal rates because they’ve been able to bid out this service in bulk, rather than individually, Dame noted. However, continued participation from Clinton Township, the largest individual member with just under half of the waste stream, was in question at press time. During a GPCRDA Board meeting Nov. 21, 2013, Clinton Township’s two representatives, Ken Pearl and Joie West, voted against extension of the GPCRDA’s articles of incorporation.

But even if Clinton Township drops out, other GPCRDA members have expressed confidence in their ability to get better pricing than the cities would on their own. GPCRDA Board member Dale Krajniak pointed out that even without Clinton Township, the GPCRDA would still need to dispose of about 30,000 tons of trash annually as a collective.

GPCRDA Board Chair Brett Smith said they were seeking bids from waste disposal companies. It was not known at press time whether those bids would be available for a board vote in time for the next meeting at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 11 in Grosse Pointe Farms, at Pier Park.

“We’re out to bid on rates,” City Council member Donald Parthum, the GPCRDA representative for the City, told his council. “We’ll see what happens at the next meeting.”